3 interviewed say they were held in secret prisons

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published
10:00 pm PDT, Tuesday, April 4, 2006

LONDON -- In its most detailed report yet on alleged secret rendition flights of terrorism suspects, Amnesty International said recent interviews with former detainees have lent support to the idea that Eastern European countries may have been involved in secret CIA flights to so-called "black site" prisons.

The experiences of three Yemeni men held in the secret prisons are at the center of the report released today.

The report includes testimonies in February and March from Muhammad Bashmilah, Muhammad al-Assad and Salah Nasser Salim Ali, also known as Salah Qaru -- men who Amnesty says are the first black-site prisoners to speak publicly after their release.

Bashmilah said he was detained in Jordan in October 2003 while on a trip to visit his mother and then he was flown to Afghanistan. Ali said he was detained in Indonesia in August 2003 and then flown to Jordan, where he was taken into custody and then flown to Afghanistan. Al-Assad said he was detained in Tanzania in 2003 and flown to Djibouti and then allegedly Afghanistan, said an Amnesty source in Tanzania.

From Afghanistan, the three men described travel times, climate, temperature, sunrises and prayer times that changed according to daylight-saving time in detailed descriptions Amnesty says indicates they could have been held in Eastern Europe.

The men were held for 13 months at the secret prison and returned to Yemen where they were charged with forging false travel documents, Amnesty said.